Get a Taste of the Age of Conversation: From K to R

This is the third installment of a “review” of the just-released Age of Conversation book – actually, just a taste of what each author has written, to make the case why you should buy the book!

This post will show the entries for those authors with last names from K to R.

So what is the “value proposition” of the Age of Conversation book? Take a taste. Then go buy it!

Gareth Kay
THE STRONGEST CONVERSATIONS START WITH A POINT OF VIEW -“A brand worthy of conversation needs to have an opinion; a clear and credible point of view on the world and the brand’s place in it. A sharp opinion, strongly held is the fuel that ignites and sustains conversation. It has the ability to make your brand matter in the maelstrom of daily life because an opinion gives people something to talk, and think, about. It may polarize, but in so doing it helps the brand become a catalyst for conversation.”

CK
THE “SHARE” ECONOMY – “Many companies view sharing as synonymous with losing control. Yet an objective assessment illuminates more opportunity for gain than risk of loss. With this new medium (and mindset) comes new
methods to build awareness, new access to communities in which to build market share and new technologies to create offerings.”

Kim Klaver
HOW TENNIS PUTS CONVERSATION INTO MARKETING – “People in direct sales and network marketing, the field I work in, do what the big boys do, only one-on-one. They contact people they know, and insist on having a 1–3 minute non-stop monologue with each person, gushing about the product they are marketing, and how it’s a MUST HAVE for the other person. This has not worked well in our field. Most people doing direct sales and network marketing (one-on-one) drop out. Ninety-five percent, actually. That’s where tennis comes in.”

David Koopmans
THE VOICE OF THE CEO – “Traditionally, communication between companies and their audiences of customers, employees and investors has been a carefully managed monologue. Our hierarchical business structures create a buffer of managers between CEOs and the rest of the world. So the conversation is often conducted on behalf of the CEO, rather than by the CEO.”

Jim Kukral
CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE? – “Two bloggers walk into a crowded room. The first blogger says, “Hi, my name is Jake and I blog about sports. Here’s a bio sheet and an about pamphlet you can read about me. Plus you could grab my RSS feed if you want”. He proceeds to hand out his information. A few people look up and accept his handouts. The rest continue in their own conversations, ignoring him.”

John La Grou
THE EMERGING MICROCLESIA – “In times past, the church had the luxury of slowly engaging new technologies over decades, even centuries. Today, the intersection of faith and technology is about rapid convergence that cannot be contained within inherited ecclesiastical architectures. Just as the printing press caused an epochal shift in religious priorities and organization, so the church is again being profoundly (re)created by instantaneous virtual interconnectivity.”

Karl Long
VIRAL GAMES – ALTERNATE REALITY GAMES -“Alternate Reality Games or ARGs may sound extremely science fiction but are in fact happening now, and have been happening for some time. Did you know that one of the things that makes Lost so compelling is that it has an Alternate Reality Game that runs parallel to it?”

Lori Magno
“SPEAK TO ME TJX” – “Speak to me! Why are you ignoring me? I thought we were friends, well, if not friends exactly, then shopping buddies. That was addressed to the TJX Companies from me, a humble consumer. Why did they dump me? Me, the person lining their pockets!”

Valeria Maltoni
CONVERSATION AGENT.COM: THE CONVERSATION AGE @ WORK – “We get things done through talk. We always have. The organizations that understand and allow these dynamics to develop and emerge with customers, partners and employees have a future. Over time, contracts, policies, scripts become less important — the free flow of ideas and projects is the backbone of this brave new world.”

Carolyn Manning
COMMUNICATION ISN’T LOST – “The main parallel between the Lost Generation and the Blogging Community will become more obvious when the best literature of the twenty-first century rises to the top. Yet, there are marks of similarity, even now. Those marks are the small things, things hidden in the open. The Lost Generation read from each other and talked together; they shared ideas freely. The Bloggers do the same.”

Paul McEnany
TELEVISION IN THE AGE OF CONVERSATION – “Before, TV was about high-paid executives, Hollywood mega-stars and prime-time budgets. Tomorrow, it’s all about me and my friends.”

Colin McKay
GOVERNMENTS – “Unfortunately, most executives, and most government officials — elected or appointed — are instinctively wary of an unrestrained exchange of ideas. To them, the world of online communications is a lot like the annual family reunion — for every bright nephew with a good idea, there are still two crazy aunts circling the bar holding a grudge.”

Drew McLellan
FULL CIRCLE – “Suddenly, whether it was a small business down the road or a conglomerate, they weren’t faceless anymore. They were Joe. Or Raj. They were a blog reader. They were a 24/7 live customer service rep. They were a peer in the same industry but half a world away. They were a blog writer. They were accessible.”

Gaurav Mishra
CREATE CONVERSATIONS, NOT CLUTTER – “A community in itself is not enough; it needs content to get into the conversation mode. One way to enable conversations is to focus on niche channels.”

Scott Monty
B2B SOCIAL MEDIA: DON’T MONKEY AROUND – “Above all, resist the temptation to jump in until you understand the context. Businesses that attempt to harness the power of social networks or new media sites without realizing the rules and etiquette will find themselves unwelcome. It is only by listening and learning will B2B marketers be able to start talking with their customers.”

Michael Morton
HOW TO BUILD A COMMUNITY ON A BUDGET: JUST USE AN ONLINE NEWSLETTER! – “…your customers must view your company as something more than just a business. They need to be able to humanize your company. This can be accomplished in many ways. One way is through your writing, another is by showing your charitable side.”

Chris Newlan
WE ARE ALL NEWS HOUNDS NOW – “Citizen journalism — where ordinary people capture a newsworthy event that the mainstream media struggle to provide instant and first hand coverage — means that history’s first draft now often makes its debut appearance within minutes on social networking sites like Facebook, on personal weblogs and video sharing sites like YouTube.”

Andy Nulman
HOW TO SHOUT – “Shouting is not about making yourself heard. It’s about making yourself interesting. And making yourself into someone people will want to converse with.”

Simon Payn
HOW PETER GOT HIS CUSTOMERS BACK – “Everyone in the neighborhood knew Peter. He was the hardware guy. On sunny days, he would stand outside and wave to people as they walked by. Some would stop and talk. After all, Peter knew everyone — and he was always full of good conversation, from the latest gossip to the best grade of sandpaper for pine.”

David Polinchock
THE ROLE OF CONVERSATION IN THE BRAND EXPERIENCE – “You see, the real challenge for brands today is that I’ve got lots of brands that I can talk to. So, if I’m not enjoying the conversation I’m having with you, it’s really easy for me to find someone else to talk to.”

Joe Raasch
NO LIMIT CONVERSATION – “The only rules are that no one can defend anything, no can promote a specific agenda, random connections are followed, and the final topic connects back to the original topic.”

Arun Rajagopal
THE RULES OF THE GARAGE. FOR DIGITAL MEDIA CONVERSATIONALISTS – “Your interactive channel should reach out, inform, entertain and make an impression on the world.”

Ryan Rasmussen
IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SIMPLY LISTEN – “The risk of requesting feedback in an uncontrolled public setting is often the leading inhibitor for companies to join in the discussion. However, the loyalties made now will become the backbone of your future brand image as participatory consumerism and social medias topple traditional models of business-centric customer relations. It is not enough to simply listen.”

Connie Reece
THE TWO-STEP OF CONVERSATIONAL WRITING – “…one of the skills in great demand is conversational writing. Even in B2B marketing the need is for plain, but powerful, language. A writer who tries to dazzle readers with buzzwords
will not be effective.”

Emily Reed
IS YOUR BRAND A BORE? – “in her advice on the etiquette of conversation, Emily Post wrote this about a person who can only talk about himself – but she may as well have been describing most marketing communications…”

Brian Reich
PUTTING MEDIA BACK IN THE MIDDLE – “Media — or to be more clear, what I call the ‘little m media’ — is the information, the experiences and the stuff that we create, consume and share every day. Media is at the core of what
organizations do and what inspires their work. Media is what we learn from, talk about, and define ourselves by.”

David Reich
CONVERSATION – THE ULTIMATE CUSTOMER SERVICE – “The new marketing buzzword is engagement, but it really stems from something that marketers had more than 50 years ago — conversation. Personal, up-close conversation with customers — a real two-way dialog. Knowing your customer — what they want, why, when and how. Knowing it because they’ve taken the time to tell you.”

Sacrum B Rown
WARMNESS – You’ll just have to buy the book to see this graphic!

Sandy Renshaw
GRAPHICS AND CONVERSATIONS – “Since 60 percent of us are visual learners, a well-placed image can convey an idea to a wide audience quickly and clearly.”

Nick Rice
AUTHENTICITY-BASED BRANDING – “Right off the bat, I want to get one thing on the table. You do not own or control your brand…You cannot control your brand because your brand is defined by the internal feelings your employees, suppliers, customers and their associates have when they think of or experience you.”

Steve Roesler
WANT TO CHANGE THE ORGANIZATION? CHANGE THE CONVERSATION – “The successful New Leader will realize that organizations are now inhabited by people who are either part of the conversation or disengaged. Internal social media will become the friend of the New Leader or the enemy of change.”

Roberta Rosenberg
AT MY GRANDMOTHER’S TABLE – “I’ve been a copywriter for 25+ years. Print or web, I write and like it all. But I love writing letters most of all because they remain the most intimate and powerful form of persuasive conversation in print.”

Leave it to the BrandingWire guru to find a new angle. Well done, Steve. If I think about it, you have managed to outdo yourself with every single interaction since we met through your comment on my blog. Now that is worth a lot these days.

Steve, this series is just way too cool. Can I even believe I’ve not ordered my copy yet? Shame, shame. Ok, right now. My wallet’s out (oh, watch out for that moth) and as soon as the submit button is pushed, the Lulu.com site should appear in my browser.